Article 5: All citizens of the Islamic State enjoy the Shari’ah rights and duties.

Article 6: The State is forbidden to discriminate at all between the individuals in terms of ruling, judiciary and management of affairs or their like. Rather, every individual should be treated equally regardless of race, Deen, colour or anything else.

These two articles have been drafted in order to explain the rules pertaining to those who carry the Islamic citizenship irrespective of whether they were Muslims or the people of Dhimmah (non-Muslim citizen of the Islamic State). As for the Muslims, this is due to the fact that the Messenger has denied the Muslims who live outside the Islamic State and who do not hold the Islamic citizenship from the rights enjoyed by the State’s subjects. On the authority of Sulayman Ibn Buraydah on that of his father who said:

“When the Messenger of Allah appointed anyone as leader of an army or detachment he would especially exhort him to fear Allah and to be good to the Muslims who were with him. He would say: Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, do not embezzle the spoils; do not break your pledge; and do not mutilate (the dead) bodies; do not kill the children. When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. Then invite them to migrate from their lands to the land of Emigrants and inform them that, if they do so, they shall have all the privileges and obligations of the Emigrants. If they refuse to migrate, tell them that they will have the status of Bedouin Muslims and will be subjected to the Commands of Allah like other Muslims, but they will not get any share from the spoils of war or Fai' except when they actually fight with the Muslims (against the disbelievers).” (Recorded by Muslim). This narration indicates clearly that the one who does not migrate to Dar Al-Islam will not enjoy any of the rights of citizenship even if he were a Muslim. The Messenger of Allah invited them to come under the authority of Islam so that they may enjoy what the Muslims enjoyed and undertake the obligations which the Muslims undertook; hesaid:

“Then invite them to migrate from their lands to the land of Emigrants (Muhajirin) and inform them that, if they do so, they shall have all the privileges and obligations of the Emigrants”. This text stipulates that migration is required for them to have what we have and for our obligations to be upon them, in other words, for them to fall under the laws. The understanding of the narration is that if they did not move they would not have what the emigrants had, in other words, what they had in the abode of Islam (Dar Al-Islam), so this narrations explain the difference in the laws between the one who moves to the abode of the emigrants and the one who doesn’t, and the abode of the emigrants was the abode of Islam with anything else being the abode of disbelief (Dar Al-Kufr). The individual’s residence in Dar Al-Islam or in Dar Al-Kufr is referred to as citizenship. Hence, a person’s citizenship means the abode which he chooses as his residence; is it Dar Al-Islam or Dar Al-Kufr? If it were Dar Al-Islam, then the rules of Dar Al-Islam would apply to it, and in this case a person would be a holder of an Islamic citizenship. If it were Dar Al-Kufr, the rules of Dar Al-Kufr would apply to it, and the person living there would not be considered as a holder of an Islamic citizenship.

The laws encompass the Dhimmi who lives in Dar Al-Islam, so they are given the rights of residency and carry the citizenship. The Dhimmi is the one who embraces any Deen other than Islam and becomes a citizen of the Islamic State while remaining upon his faith which is other than Islam. The word Dhimmi is derived from the word Dhimmah, meaning the oath. Hence, the Dhimmi are those to whom we give an oath to treat according to the terms of peace we made with them and to proceed in interaction with them and in managing their affairs according to the rules of Islam.

Islam has come with several rules pertaining to the people of Dhimmah, in which it guaranteed the rights of citizenship for them and imposed upon them its duties. Islam also outlined that the Dhimmi enjoy the same justice we enjoy and that they should abide by the same rules that we abide by. As for that which they enjoy in terms of justice and fairness, this is derived from the general command reflected in Allah (swt) saying:

((وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ أَنْ تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ))

“When you judge between people to judge with justice.” (TMQ 4:58)and in His (swt) saying:

“O you who have believed, do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.” (TMQ 5:8) and it is also reflected in Allah (swt) saying regarding the judgement between the people of the book

((وَإِنْ حَكَمْتَ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِالْقِسْطِ ))

“And if you judge, judge between them with justice.” (TMQ 5:42).

As for abiding by that which we abide by in terms of justice, this is derived from the actions and sayings of the Messenger of Allah. He used to exact the same punishment upon the disbelievers and the Muslims. The Messenger of Allah punished a Jew by killing him for killing a woman, as has been recorded in Al-Bukhari from Anas Bin Malik who said:

“A girl wearing ornaments, went out at Medina. Somebody struck her with a stone. She was brought to the Prophet while she was still alive. Allah's Prophet asked her, "Did such-and-such a person strike you?" She raised her head, denying that. He asked her a second time, saying, "Did so-and-so strike you?" She raised her head, denying that. He said for the third time, "Did so-and-so strike you?" She lowered her head, agreeing. Allah's Apostle then sent for the killer and killed him between two stones.”.

“A Jew and a Jewess were brought to Allah's Apostle on a charge of committing an illegal sexual intercourse. The Prophet asked them. "What is the legal punishment (for this sin) in your Book (Torah)?" They replied, "Our priests have innovated the punishment of blackening the faces with charcoal and Tajbiya." `Abdullah bin Salam said, "O Allah's Prophet , tell them to bring the Torah." The Torah was brought, and then one of the Jews put his hand over the Divine Verse of the Rajam (stoning to death) and started reading what preceded and what followed it. On that, Ibn Salam said to the Jew, "Lift up your hand." Behold! The Divine Verse of the Rajam was under his hand. So Allah's Prophet ordered that the two (sinners) be stoned to death .” It is a duty upon us to give the people of the Dhimmah the protection given to the Muslims, due to words of the Messenger of Allah,

“Indeed, whoever kills a person who is granted the pledge of protection (Mu'ahid) that has a covenant from Allah and a covenant from His Messenger (saw), then he has violated the covenant with Allah and the covenant of His Messenger, so he shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise; even though its fragrance can be sensed from the distance of seventy autumns.”, transmitted by Al-Tirmidhi who said it is Hasan Sahih. And Al-Bukhari transmitted it with the words

“Whoever killed a Mu'ahid (a person who is granted the pledge of protection by the Muslims) shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise though its fragrance can be smelt at a distance of forty years (of traveling).”.

The people of Dhimmah enjoy the same rights as those enjoyed by Muslims in terms of managing their affairs and securing their living. It is narrated on the authority of Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari that the Messenger of Allah said:

«أَطْعِمُوا الْجَائِعَ، وَعُودُوا الْمَرِيضَ، وَفُكُّوا الْعَانِيَ»

“Give food to the hungry, pay a visit to the sick and release (set free) the one in captivity (by paying his ransom).” transmitted by Al-Bukhari through Abu Musa. Abu ‘Ubaydah said:

“Therefore, the Dhimmis are excluded from Jihad, their prisoners are freed and if they are slaved, they return to their Dhimmah and their covenant as free, and there are narrations regarding that”.And on the authority of Ibn Abbas who said:

صالح رسول الله أهل نجران

“The Messenger of Allah made peace with the people of Najran” and from the narration as transmitted by Abu Dawud in his Sunan

“No church of theirs will be demolished and no clergyman of theirs will be turned out. There will be no interruption in their religion (coerced away from their faith) until they introduce something in our matter that does not belong to it or take”.

The Prophet used to visit their sick, as recorded by Al-Bukhari from Anas who said

“A young Jew became ill. The Prophet went to visit him. He sat down by his head and said to him: Accept Islam. He looked at his father who was beside him near his head, and he said: Obey Abu Al-Qasim. So he accepted Islam, and the Prophet stood up saying: Praise be to Allah Who has saved him through me from Hell.” which indicates that it is permitted to visit them, be courteous and sociable with them. Al-Bukhari transmitted from Amru Bin Maymun from Umar Bin Al-Khattab (ra) who counselled at the time of his death “And I enjoin the Khalifah after me with this and this, and enjoin him that by the covenant of Allah and His Messenger, he should fulfil their covenant, fight behind them and not force them to work beyong their capacity ”.

The Dhimmi should not be interfered with in terms of their faith and their rituals, for the Messenger of Allah (saw) said according to what Abu Ubaid reported in Al-Amwal through ‘Urwa who said: The Messenger of Allahwrote to the people of Yemen:

“He who is upon his Judaism and his Christianity, should not be coerced away from their faith”.Custom duties are not extracted from the Dhimmi in the same way they are not taken from the Muslims. Abu ‘Ubayd reported in Al-Amwal from ‘Abd Al-Rahman Bin Ma’qal who said: I asked Ziyaad Bin Hudair about whom they would take a tenth from. He said

“We didn’t use to take a tenth from a Muslim, nor from someone who had a covenant. I said: So who did you take the tenth from? He said: The disbelievers from the merchants of war, so we used to take from them as they used to take from us”.The tax collector is the one who extracts the custom duties.

Therefore, the Dhimmi are subjects of the State, like any other subjects, enjoying the rights of citizenship, protection, guaranteed living and fair treatment. They also enjoy the right of being treated with kindness, leniency and clemency. They can join the Islamic armed forces and fight alongside the Muslims if they choose to do so, but they are not obliged to fight and no wealth is obliged from them except the Jizya,so the taxes that are obliged upon the Muslims do not apply to them. They are viewed by the ruler and the judge in the same light as the Muslims are viewed without any discrimination in terms of the management of their affairs and the implementation of the rules of transactions and the penal code upon them. Therefore, the Dhimmi enjoys all the rights, equally and exactly as those enjoyed by the Muslim; he is also expected to perform all the duties incumbent upon him, such as the fulfilment of the oath and the obedience of the State’s orders.

In this way it can be seen that the issue with respect to being taken care of is the citizenship of the State, irrespective of whether they were Muslim or not. It is forbidden to discriminate in any way between those who hold the Islamic citizenship, due to the generality of the evidences pertaining the ruling and judicial matters and management of affairs. Allah (swt) says:

((وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ أَنْ تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ))

“When you judge between people to judge with justice.” (TMQ 4:48). This is a general address that applies to all people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Furthermore, the Messenger of Allahsaid:

«البَيِّنَةُ عَلَى الـمُـدَّعِي، وَالْيَمِينُ عَلَى مَنْ أَنْكَرَ»

“But, the onus of proof is upon the claimant, and the taking of an oath is upon him who denies.” as transmitted by Al-Bayhaqi with a Sahih chain. This is also general and it applies to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It is narrated from ‘Abd Allah Bin Zubayr who said:

“The Messenger of Allah has decreed that the two disputing parties should both sit before the judge” reported by Ahmad and Abu Dawud and authenticated by Al-Hakim. This is also general and it includes any two disputing parties, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The Messenger of Allahsaid

«الإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَمَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ»

“The Imam is a guardian and he is responsible for his subjects.” (Agreed upon by Muslim and Al-Bukhari).The term“subjects” is general and it includes all the subjects, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Likewise, all the general evidences related to citizenship indicate that it is forbidden to discriminate between the Muslim and the non-Muslim, between the Arab and the non-Arab or between the white and the black. Rather, all the people who hold the Islamic citizenship should rather be treated equally, without any discrimination between them either by the ruler, in terms of looking after their affairs and in terms of protecting their lives, their honour and their wealth, or by the judge in terms of equality and justice.